Case Number 11098: Small Claims Court

Mile High: Season One

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All Rise...

Judge Brett Cullum hereby announces his intention to move to Britain.

The Charge

Fasten your seatbelt and undo your pants for the ride of a lifetime!

The Case

Mile High is a saucy British series which gives the Baywatch
treatment to the airline industry. The show revolves around the sexual antics of
the flight crews of a fictional airline, and it does so with a light, fluffy
touch accompanied by plenty of flesh. There's nothing that stands out as
"great television," but it is refreshing to see a show so unapologetic
about sexuality. Mile High is fun, and that's all it ever shoots for.
Koch Vision releases Mile High: Season One, which features the initial
2003 run of the show on four DVDs. You might have caught the show on syndication
here in the States on BBC America, but on disc the episodes are unedited and
feature some full frontal nudity that was excised for more prude American
sensibilities. Yes, the Brits don't seem to mind having naught bits exposed on
commercial television. It's shocking how they handle the sexuality with such an
easy relaxed candor.

The plot isn't heavy, nor is it complicated. During the pilot we witness
naïve, supermodel-like Marco Bailey (Tom Wisdom) as he begins his career at
Fresh airlines as a flight attendant. He's thrust into a world where the other
crew members talk raunchy, party all night, and constantly have sex with
abandon. This first season cast includes: Lehan (Naomi Ryan), the black,
supermodel-like, earthy stewardess; Emma (Emma Ferguson), the sweet,
supermodel-like, young, engaged girl; John (Matthew Chambers), the
supermodel-like pilot who pines after Emma; Janis (Jo-Anne Knowles), the
supermodel-like, dominatrix manager who runs the show; Will (Adam Sinclair) the
supermodel-like gay guy who parties as hard as he works; K.C. (Sarah Manners),
the supermodel-like stewardess out to bag a rich husband; and Jason (James
Redmond), the supermodel-like, male flight attendant who encourages women to go
topless. The characters are not exactly crucial to anything, and many of them
don't even survive more than three or four episodes of this first year before
disappearing from the show altogether. Each episode offers a silly story
revolving around something the British invented—the sex farce. I was
entertained, but would be hard pressed to remember much of what happened. I know
I laughed, and was engaged for the forty-odd minutes that each installment
lasted. Mile High is cotton candy; it melts on your tongue instantly with
no residue or true substance. It's simple, sexy sugar spun out for almost an
hour.

The DVD presentation is as straightforward as the show. We get each episode
presented as it was originally aired with very little tweaks. The mastering
doesn't make anything look or sound better, and the 2003 sources in turn look
older than what that would imply. The transfers are unremarkable, and not much
better than what we would find on a VHS. There aren't any extras to talk about,
and that's a shame. I would love to hear from the cast or the creators about
this project, but no such luck. I bet bloopers and outtakes would have been
incredible—but again, none to be found. You'll have to just settle for
some brainless, sexy fun without anything to support it.

Mile High is a trifle of a show; hardly the drama we often associate
with the BBC. The show isn't serious in the slightest, but it does have a lot to
say to American audiences. It's revealing in how sex-positive it is when
compared with any U.S. counterpart. Nudity is no big deal, homosexuality is not
an issue, and lust is not given grave consequences at every turn. It's a show
you couldn't make in America without a moral outcry from the Right and a
campaign to take it off the air. It could end up on cable but never on (gasp!)
broadcast television where we can split a head in half with a knife without a
peep but still can't show boobies without everyone declaring morality is doomed.
The Brits have one up on us when it comes to treating sex with the proper amount
of disrespect, and this is the DVD set to prove it. You'll enjoy the hell out of
Mile High: Season One, but only if you can smile as someone pokes fun at
poking someone else.